After introducing two new kittens to our home (Lily and Evan), Bucky initially got along with them. However, a couple of months in, he started being aggressive toward both kittens and an older cat in the home, Pepper. His aggression got progressively worse over a couple of months: from hissing and growling, he escalated to chasing and attacking the other cats. It got so bad that we had to keep them separate for most of the day, and we actually had to sleep separately at night to keep all the cats safe. We took Bucky in to the vet, who couldn’t find any physical problems; his behavior kept getting worse.
By the time we got in touch with Dr. Marci, he was going for the other cats as soon as he saw them, hissing, growling, swatting, and biting. My wife and I couldn’t hang out together in the same room in the evening, because he would become aggressive and disruptive. We were afraid we would have to re-home the kittens after they had worked so hard to adjust to being with us.
Dr. Marci and LeeAnna were both incredible! As soon as we contacted Feline Behavior Solutions, they reached out to get our information and gave us some initial tools to try to settle things in our home as we waited for our Zoom appointment. These ideas helped us reduce the severity of the behavior problems while we waited to meet with Dr. Marci. During our intake, Dr. Marci and LeeAnna were thorough, nonjudgmental, and incredibly helpful. Their solutions helped us make immediate changes that continued to reduce the incidences of behavior problems. Dr. Marci was available by email; as some behavior problems changed, new problems emerged. She was so responsive and offered really thoughtful ideas to help us adapt the in-depth plan she provided to continue to meet our cats’ unique needs.
Over the course of the summer, Bucky’s relationship with Lily and Evan dramatically improved. Dr. Marci’s plan helped us facilitate positive interactions between the three of them, which dramatically improved their relationship. Now, Bucky and Evan are thick as thieves, and he and Lily have a very affectionate relationship. Even Pepper, who doesn’t like other cats, has a better relationship with all three of the other cats just by virtue of us applying the behavior plan to all of our cats! Because the relationships between the cats improved, Evan and Lily’s relationships with us have improved as well. It’s like night and day; I never pictured that they would love each other as much as they do now.
We are actually glad that Bucky had these behavior issues because working with Dr. Marci really improved all of our cats’ quality of life more than we could have imagined. We are such better cat parents as a result of working with Dr. Marci and LeeAnna. We know so much more about how to meet our cats’ needs, address all kinds of behavior issues, and we feel prepared to intervene if things ever regress. We would recommend anyone to use these services to improve their relationships with their cats and their cats’ relationships with each other.